Chapter 71 - 3: Florida Winter Series

Chapter 71: Chapter 3: Florida Winter Series

In December 2013, Wu Shi and Verstappen traveled to Oschersleben, Germany, to participate in the Motopark Academy team’s Formula 3 test using Italy’s Dallara F311 car.

Both of their lap times were excellent, faster than veteran drivers like Stan Shosloster and Matt Parry.

Wu Shi, in particular, demonstrated such prowess after adapting to the car that Timo Rumpfkeil, the boss of Motopark Academy, immediately wanted to sign him as a reserve driver for the GP2 series.

Sid did not negotiate this offer. While being a GP2 reserve driver was indeed a good opportunity, Wu Shi didn’t need such a position right now. With his skills, he would soon make a name for himself in the Renault Formula. When that time came, they would have far more bargaining chips on the table.

After the testing in Germany concluded, the two moved on to Valencia, Spain, for further tests. The abilities they displayed continued to surpass those of the veteran drivers by a significant margin.

Just like that, in the final days before ringing in 2014, Jos and Sid brought them some good news.

"I’ve arranged for you two to participate in the Florida Winter Series," Jos said.

"A race in America?" Wu Shi had never heard of this competition.

Jos explained, "Yes, it’s a single-seater series organized by the local Rafa Driver Academy. However, it’s a non-championship event. The main goal is to help you accumulate some racing experience in single-seater open-wheel cars."

Sid added, "They use a chassis that complies with F3 safety regulations, paired with a 190-horsepower Fiat-FPT engine. It can definitely serve as a solid rehearsal before entering the F3 Level.

"It won’t interfere with the rest of your schedule for 2014, either. There are four tracks in total, featuring twelve races, and it will all wrap up by February 18."

Wu Shi originally scoffed at a race he had never even heard of, even if it was organized by the Rafa Driver Academy.

Speaking of the Rafa Driver Academy, it seemed that Zhou Guanyu was going to join them this year to become a trainee driver.

In fact, during the karting events in Europe throughout 2012 and 2013, he had frequently bumped into Guanyu, especially in massive heavyweight competitions like the Europe Championship and the World Championship.

Holding a laptop, Sid read from his notes, "Many Formula 3 drivers will be participating. Dennis van der Laar, Tatiana Calderon, Nicholas Latifi, and Rafael Machelo have all performed quite well at the F3 Level. You two can test yourselves against them in advance."

Wu Shi automatically filtered out most of the names, only catching "Latifi." He subconsciously voiced his confusion in Chinese. "Director La?"

"What?"

Verstappen usually showed great curiosity whenever Wu Shi suddenly blurted out a sentence in Chinese.

"Director Latifi," Wu Shi replied.

"Why do you call him that?" Verstappen continued to ask.

Wu Shi looked at Verstappen. If the timeline hadn’t changed, in the future year of 2021, this "director" would become one of the driving forces behind a highly controversial battle for the World Championship. And Verstappen himself would be one of the main characters.

Of course, it was impossible for him to say these words out loud; he was merely reminiscing about those days in his memories.

"I just think he has the potential to be a director. Maybe the name makes me feel like he possesses the ability to script drama."

"Alright, you’re making things sound really complicated." Verstappen shook his head. He was a straightforward person and disliked this kind of roundabout way of speaking.

Ultimately, the two drivers’ racing schedules for the beginning of 2014 were decided.

Wu Shi asked Sid for the roster. In addition to the previously mentioned F3 Level drivers, there were also Gesilong, Vasily Romanov, and Lance Stroll—people he had crossed paths with in the KF1 and KZ1 events.

Regardless, to sum it up, they were all his defeated opponents.

"I feel like there isn’t much suspense in participating in this race," Verstappen said.

"Do you possess some Mind Reading Skill?" Wu Shi asked in return.

Verstappen laughed and said, "It’s a spec-series race. Barring any accidents, who else but you could win the championship?"

Three months of testing open-wheel cars had already allowed Verstappen to grasp Wu Shi’s strength and skill level. He wondered why this guy could perform so stably when he had only just come into contact with open-wheel cars, and whether he even had an adaptation and transition period.

Oh, wait. According to his father, Jos, this guy did have an adaptation and transition period, but it was strictly limited to his first hundred-odd laps.

Verstappen realized just how terrifying this talent was. For many drivers, completing a hundred or so laps would merely be enough to familiarize themselves with the track. Yet this guy had already pushed his speed to pole-position levels.

On January 19, the group arrived in Florida. Having heard the legendary reputation of this land on the internet, Wu Shi wanted to see what kind of wild antics the locals were up to every time he visited.

Unfortunately, the people of Florida had clearly not awakened to their true potential yet. There were some wild antics, but not in great numbers.

Before the races began, the participating drivers needed to undergo a collective test at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

At first, Wu Shi thought this was the Miami International Circuit, but it actually wasn’t. This was the highly famous oval track where the roads in the cornering areas were banked, allowing race cars to take the turns at full speed.

"Are we here to test the stability of the cars?" Verstappen asked. Since it was a test, running lap times on this kind of track didn’t hold much meaning, nor did testing the vehicles’ cornering performance.

"Probably."

Wu Shi was also quite speechless. It really was an amateur, low-level race after all. He heard that the latter two races would also use this track and its modified layout.

"Should we have a little race?" Verstappen suddenly asked.

"Here?" As soon as Wu Shi asked, he immediately understood what Verstappen meant.

Despite how this playground-like track seemed to require nothing more than stepping on the gas pedal, adding competitive elements would actually turn it into a highly thrilling race.

The NASCAR Cup Series hosted a leg here, with clustered packs of stock cars surging forward. Aside from enjoying the roaring engine waves, the audience was always anticipating something to happen in a race where cars surrounded each driver from the front, back, left, and right.

At times like those, merely knowing how to step on the gas was useless. You had to control the vehicle spacing. Because there were cars in every direction, you had to manage distances while traveling at speeds of three hundred kilometers per hour.

You also had to find every possible way to take the most suitable racing line—

The closer to the apex, the gentler the banking was, while the farther outside you went, the steeper the incline became. This meant that if you chased the apex, you would paradoxically miss out on the track’s anti-centrifugal characteristics provided by the steep gradients.

In short, racing here was an intense game of bumper cars at three hundred kilometers per hour. A single moment of distraction was enough to destroy a race car and trigger a series of chain-reaction collisions. In severe cases, it would even blast shrapnel into the off-field audience, adding to their sense of participation.

"What’s wrong? Afraid of a crash?" Verstappen provoked him.

"I really am a bit afraid. Is your family very rich?" Wu Shi shot back. Anything could happen in competition. He was confident he wouldn’t crash, but the price would be yielding the victory, and that was simply impossible.

Verstappen remained silent for a moment before saying, "I believe we won’t crash, but just in case, let’s just do a proper test."

Alas, this was the reality of being too poor.

Wu Shi looked toward Stoltra, considering whether he should build a better relationship with the Young Master to pull in some sponsorships.

He remembered how, before this guy entered Formula 1 in the future, his father would spend money to book out F1 tracks all over the world for his private training. Tsk, tsk. Tens of millions to hundreds of millions of US Dollars were just thrown into it like that. Compared to him, it was laughable to call anyone else a pay driver. That was what it meant to be a true pay driver.

Since many of the participants this time had just been promoted from karting, the organizers did not allow the engine restrictions to be fully lifted during the testing.

The test passed without any thrills or spills. Soon enough, January 25 arrived, ushering in the first stop of the Florida Winter Series: the Sebring Raceway.